The Rock ‘Covering Up’ Vince McMahon Scandal?

The Rock drew heat from the fans after Cody Rhodes recently gave away his WrestleMania 40 main event spot to ‘The Great One’ last week on SmackDown. However, he eventually got his spot back and will officially challenge Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship at WrestleMania 40.

 


 

Well, it seems that WWE used The Rock just to divert attention from Vince McMahon’s lawsuit.

For context, former WWE CEO Vince McMahon has faced allegations of sexual trafficking and misconduct from Janel Grant. In her lawsuit, she alleged that McMahon distributed explicit content featuring Grant without her permission, involving other WWE personnel, undisclosed executives, and so much more.

However, it became evident that instantly after it was made apparent The Rock could main event WrestleMania 40 instead of Cody Rhodes, fans forgot about Vince McMahon’s lawsuit and focused their outrage on The Rock instead.

As per Dave Meltzer on The Wrestling Observer Newsletter, it was observed that the decision to include The Rock in the storyline served as a distraction from the Vince McMahon controversy. This incident soon became a popular meme and on social media, the attention shifted from outrage towards McMahon to criticism directed at both The Rock and the company.

Meltzer acknowledged the tactic as a way to redirect attention and he also noted the unsettling aspect of the situation when considering its intent to manipulate public perception.

“It became a meme that they went to Rock to distract from the Vince McMahon story. And it does seem that it worked, because in social media, the outrage over McMahon pretty much ended and became outrage against The Rock and the company. It’s kind of sick when you think about it, but if the idea as a way to divert attention, it did work.”

 

Barry Russell
Barry Russell
A dedicated pro wrestling follower for more than a decade

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